Innovative Ingredients for Blood Sugar Management by Steve Hanson
Trends for BloodSugar Management Reduced sugar consumption and more natural sweetener options More and more Canadians are seeking to reduce their sugar intake for maintaining better health. There have also been a number of new natural sweetener options introduced in the past several years such as stevia and monk fruit that offer an alternative to synthetic sweeteners.
Ingredients like the food you eat Blood sugar management products are one of the hottest categories right now in the natural products industry, and for good reason. According to the Canadian Diabetes Association, more than nine million Canadians are living with diabetes or prediabetes. Of this number, three million suffer from diabetes with the remaining being prediabetic, meaning a person’s blood glucose levels are higher than normal, but not significant enough to be diagnosed with diabetes. The population with diabetes is also increasing due to the aging population, increasing obesity rates and lack of exercise. With nearly a third of the Canadian population affected, natural health product manufacturers are looking for new and innovative ingredients to target this growing concern.
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IHRMAGAZINE.COM • SPRING 2014
Consumers are looking for options with less processing that are closer to nature. We’ll witness more and more ingredients derived from plants and whole foods.
What’s old is new again Some of the ingredients that have always been known to play a role in blood sugar management are receiving renewed interest due to developing or new science.